The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Buffy the eggs layer on January 04, 2016, 10:52:25 am
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Ok. I admit it I am am a closet goat fancier. ;)
I dont own one, but I do think they are lovely and always find myself reading your goaty trials and triumphs with interest. I used to milk goats at a rare breeds farm in my youth and have always had a soft spot for them ( especially pygmies) but cant justify them on my limited space and budget. :-\
So I just wondered why you had chosen to be be goat keepers and what you find so great about them. In the interest of balence you can moan about them too if you like ;D
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Because fsmnutter told me it was happening, the rest is history.
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I like goats - they are such characters but we don't keep them as goats milk makes me heave, as does goats milk yogurt, goats milk cheese and goats milk fudge, even.
Dan and I have a deal that we only keep what is productive so with the cattle, which I love, and the sheep, there was really no function for them here.
Always th first place I go at a show though - the goat tent ;D
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Rosemary I can't stand the supermarket goats milk and have the same reaction as you but my home produced unpasteurised stuff is awesome.
To me goats have the best attributes of all livestock ;D they are gorgeous, clever, cuddly, productive and very amusing pests :love: :goat: :love:
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So those of you who keep them for their productive value keep them for their milk....?
I dont think I have ever tried it. Well certainly not the proper stuff any how. If I did ever taste the milk that I took from the goats at the rare breeds farm it's too long ago to remember what it tasted like.
Is it superior to cows milk?
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Raw, non-homogenised milk from a small herd of goats is just the best! I cannot go back to shop-bought milk (goat or cows) as I can taste the plastic... any goaty taste is usually the result of a mineral imbalance (often shortly after kidding or at times of other stress).
However I would also say that the same is true for home-produced cows' milk. A while ago I got some (very illegal here in Scotland :o) raw cows milk from Jersey cows and the creaminess was beyond belief!
I keep goats for home dairying (milk, cream, yoghurt, cheesemaking, some soap) as I don't have the facilities to keep cows, they produce a manageable amount of milk for two years easily (so not too many kiddings - but any castrated male kids make excellent curries and roasts), can be moved by a smaller trailer (and towed by estate car rather than 4x4), my children can deal with them (although now they are older that is not so much of an issue any more), they are very affectionate and then of course I got interested in showing them... and now away most w/ends during the show season with my team! Love it! About to order larger trailer so that I can take more goats away with me... :)
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About to order larger trailer so that I can take more goats away with me... :)
And I hope you'll be bringing it to the Festival this year :fc:
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When my mother bought a smallholding we scratch our heads as to what we would get in the way of livestock!??
Went on some courses at the local agricultural college, went to see a small herd of milkers and the rest was history.
At one time we had 60 milkers and numerous followers plus males for meat. I have kept home bred goats as pets since down sizeing. They are very intelligent, comical and seriously contagious , lost my last two a year ago at 12 and 13yrs old It was aweful but as I have my sheep still I have a distraction. Love them to bits :sunshine: :goat: :love:
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I have had my 4 girls for 7 months now and am completely in love with them. Great characters and I find them so entertaining. The plan is breed for milk and cheesemaking, and meat from surplus kids.
I went for goats rather than cattle partly due to size (land needed and size of beast) but also because they have the cute factor for me and I want animals that are both useful and I like looking at.
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1. Their characters
2. They look good
3. They taste good
4. They make nice home made rugs
5. Their milk tastes good.
6. They are a good talking point and I have met some good friends along my 7 year goat keeping journey
7. Once you learn some basics they are no harder to keep than any other animal
8. They don't eat the washing off the line
Pop along to Seaton Ross and you can buy their goats milk products direct from St Helens (min orders apply). St Helens is the best goats milk commercially available. I am biased as I worked there for 3 years but I don't like the taste of Delamere. Compared to your own goats milk it is different but it has been pasteurised and homogenised so will be a bit different.
We are In East Yorkshire too and have golden guernseys and boers if you want to come and get a goat fix near Goole
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I think my forum name probably gives a hint of how I feel about goats. I learned to milk a goat while staying with friends who have a small farm. When the ex and I planned on moving to Isle of Arran, we were wanting the go for the self-sufficiency lifestyle. We knew it would be limited by the size of land we could afford so decided on poultry and a goat (didn't know then that you should keep two). Having milked the friend's goat, I was determined that I needed goats. I even knitted a jumper with shorter sleeves to b e my goat milking jumper.
Unfortunately, the ex is a control freak (which is why he's the ex) and decided I wasn't having a goat after all.
A few years ago, now living in a town with my new husband, I had the opportunity to buy and share a couple of goats with a neighbour, with them living in her garden. She lost interest very quickly and I was so upset at the thought of not having goats any more that my lovely OH said I could have them in our garden.
Even when this horrible disease hit me and I could hardly move, I still hung onto my goats. My OH had to lower me onto the milking bench and haul me off again, but I managed the milking. He had to carry the buckets, etc and I still have to rely on others for mucking out, cleaning the yard and hoof trimming, which does cost me but they're worth it.
Why? All the reasons given in other posts. Plus, they are always pleased to see me and greet me with a gentle bleat whenever I appear, even if it's just at the window. They love cuddles and strokes and they don't care what I can and can't do. I had to give up a lot when I became disabled - walking, swimming and cycling being the ones that hurt the most as I loved them - but I just couldn't part with my goats.
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The original reason for getting a couple of golden Guernsey goats was because the oh is lactose intolerant. However the little loves just keep me entertained as well. We have a daily routine for everything and they respond so well to it. I would love to get more :goat:
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The original reason for getting a couple of golden Guernsey goats was because the oh is lactose intolerant. However the little loves just keep me entertained as well. We have a daily routine for everything and they respond so well to it. I would love to get more :goat:
Surely that's allergic to cows milk (the protein being specific to cows milk) as goats milk has exactly the same amount of lactose.
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I would love to get more :goat:
You can NEVER have enough goats.... although my OH is now refusing to extend the goathouse again... but with 11 milkers after this year's kdding ( :fc:), three goatlings to come on next year and I don't know how many kids this spring I guess I have quite a few...
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What can I add to that lot? Some of it makes me emotional because I seem to have a deep down need for my capricious friends (is that because I'm Capricorn? :),).
Had some years ago but due to family problems they had to go. 2010 now different circumstances I managed to get 2 Toggs, I now have 6, incuding Boers, hopefully 5 in kid. I use the milk for the house or rearing lambs. I try not to milk much during winter, but cut down to once a day if milking through, then as she increases after shortest day I up to twice a day.
Smaller than cattle, easier to handle, easy to keep in (with electric fence), easier to keep inside in bad weather/over winter. Loveable, affectionate, intelligent, can move them quickly in small transit van (vets etc), or lead them out to different small areas I need grazing down a bit. Don't poach the land like bigger stock.
Down sides ?
Too addictive. Can be wasteful with hay from racks. Errrm errrm, can't think of anything else :)
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whats not to love about goats :innocent:
they are easy to handle, to my mind they are like a cross between a dog and a sheep. They can be your best friend and sit with you for hours but still have that independent streak.
Even on the roughest day they can make me smile and laugh with their nonsense, plus there's the usual milk (cheese etc), meat and skins.
but they are so addictive, my herd started with 1 and now I have 20 ;D but I wouldn't swap them for the world and can't see myself never having a few goats about the place
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One of the downsides - when your OH announces that he's just been cuddling the most beautiful girl in the work and he not talking about you but about a little spotty Anglo Nubian ::)
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Clydesdale I'm already there ::)
When he comes home and says "hello beautiful" I don't answer as I know he is talking to the cat :-\
Well MGWoM your new man sounds wonderful and I'm glad you got the chance to wear your short sleved pully :thumbsup:
I used to milk Toggs, Anglo Nubian and Saanen, but havent handled boer or GGs. I was hoping that one of you would tell me that they are great at clearing pasture between sheep and pigs or brilliant for keeping my solitary rams company but I guess that would be geese not goats. :( I have just had a look on preloved and they seem to fetch far more than sheep would for castrated males at least. £140 for a pygmy wether is more than I could get for a meat ram lamb.
Looks like they will have to stay on my wish list untill I can keep them purely for pleasure as I dont want to add milking to my list of smallholding chores and my sheep give me all the meat that I need. :goat: :love: :-\
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If you want a pair to raise for meat then I might be able to help you out - I wont be bottle feeding male kids due to time so unless they are exceptional I will be selling them at 4 days old. They are due feb - April
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Oh Cuckoo!
when you say "helping"....... :-J That's not really helping when a person would really like some but cant justify them financially is it :innocent:
And then your gona tell me that they will be really cute wont they....? and free to a good home.....? and local, though no doubt you would probably be passing this way and offer to drop them off.......?
Ooow now look what you have done........ :thinking:
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Buffy Pygmy goats are always really expensive - much more so than dairy goats if you are after castrated boys
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Why is that CC?
Do pygmies have a purpose other than being terribly cute?
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I am afraid they wouldn't be free and probably not considered cheap at £50 for a few day old kid but the herd is CAE / CLA / Johnes tested, lambivacced, wormed and foot trimmed regularly and bred for quality and health so might offer a good start.
They are very local and taste very good!
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I'm glad that they are not free Cuckoo...I would have been powerless to resist. I'm a sucker for toothless gift horses ;D
I'm guessing that you take them off in order to milk their mums then or are these the boers kids? So they need to be bottle fed to about 5 weeks ish and then fed concentrates and grass? Am I right in thinking that it costs more to raise a goat for meat than a sheep? Is that why its not viable for you cuckoo?
Do you castate them or leave them intact?
I have never located the goat farm at Seaton Ross but have come across lots of people who have worked there.I will have to google it.
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Why is that CC?
Do pygmies have a purpose other than being terribly cute?
No, none whatsoever, is the short answer... but that answer has landed me in the bad books with a few pygmy breeders...
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So do Pygmy breeders feel that the breed do have a practical purpose Anke?
Perhaps when you are that cute you dont need to have a practical purpose.....? Paris Hilton seems to have traded on that principle very successfully...... :thinking:
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Blasted wast of time !!
will engage you in meaningless conversation, never lie to you , never make unfulfilled promises and give unconditional love ( as long as there are carrots involved )
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Hmmmmmn :thinking: Sounds like a vegetarian I once dated Rupert ;D
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So do Pygmy breeders feel that the breed do have a practical purpose Anke?
Perhaps when you are that cute you dont need to have a practical purpose.....? Paris Hilton seems to have traded on that principle very successfully...... :thinking:
Well I just think that to qualify as a "smallholding/farm type animal" they would have to have a purpose additional to being cute.... but it seems a lot of "smallholdings" just keep them for what exactly I cannot think of..... because - "proper" goats are as cute/friendly/people-orientated as pygmies AND give milk/meat into the bargain as well (and before anyone asks how can I eat such cuties - they should come and visit my 10 months-old wethers at the moment, horrible teenagers may be the best word to describe them (the girls can be just as bad and they try and get sex all the time :o, but they have names, the boys don't).
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I think eating any of them is hard. Well it's not really the eating I find difficult I suppose, Its knowing that no matter how trusting, friendly, intelligent or characterful they are ( yeah ok and how cute). I know that I cant justify keeping them as pets. So no matter how much I would love to keep them they have to go.
My ram lambs are the the friendliest, confident, responsive, cuddly chaps that you could hope to find and continue that way into adult hood but I end up selling them or butchering them because I cant have fields full of rams who spend all their times cracking each others skulls.
One day though I will have one of those smallholdings that has lots of cute but non productive pets and that will definitely include some pointless pygmies. :goat: :excited:
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Why not look out from some boer cross goat Buffy? They are cheaper than full bred and then you could breed up? If you don't want to be tied to a milking routine, they are still fun to keep, and useful for meat and / or milk (crosses can give lovely rich milk)
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I'm guessing that you take them off in order to milk their mums then or are these the boers kids? So they need to be bottle fed to about 5 weeks ish and then fed concentrates and grass? Am I right in thinking that it costs more to raise a goat for meat than a sheep? Is that why its not viable for you cuckoo?
Do you castate them or leave them intact?
If we have triplets then the extra one is taken off to be bottle reared. We leave the boers with their dams for 3-5 months depending on if female or male. We let the golden Guernsey reaer her kid naturally but will be milking this year so will split off the kids.
If rearing for meat then no we don't castrate the males - don't have a problem with them as they go when they are 6-9 months old. They are not disbudded unless ordered as such and can be rund if requested before 7 days old.
If bottle rearing then bottle them til 12 weeks old. Costs about £30 per kid plus time and faff. It is the time and faff factor I cant do at the moment I am afraid. Introduce creep at a few weeks old and hay / grass from birth. If you have plenty of grass cost is not an issue but they grow much better if given the creep - just like lambs and will get to finishing weight quicker. We aim for 40kg lw
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Down sides ?
Too addictive. Can be wasteful with hay from racks. Errrm errrm, can't think of anything else :)
Great time wasters? I can spend ages just sitting in the goat yard watching and cuddling my girls.
My excuse for having goats now is that I am intolerant of cows' milk and I've been drinking the nice stuff for too long to go back onto shop goats' milk.
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Down sides ?
Too addictive. Can be wasteful with hay from racks. Errrm errrm, can't think of anything else :)
Great time wasters? I can spend ages just sitting in the goat yard watching and cuddling my girls.
Time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted ;)
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Good point, PHB.
Incidentally, I do name all my goats. The ones destined for the freezer get names like Curry, Cassi (short for Casserole), etc.